Week 1 of SummerMC
First week of summer master’s is over and our main focus this week was the Power Lab VBS. I really enjoy working with the kids. It was so cool to see the kids grow throughout the week For example, this one girl named Sydney was in my crew and in the beginning she was very quit and did not say much. But by the end of the week she was dancing to all of the songs and even started being our prayer person. It was such an encouragement to see God working through her life and seeing her grow that is made me want to grow even further in my spiritual walk with God. I love how even the simple things can be such and encouragement! Wow, I am definately excited for this summer and all that God has. Man, He is just WOW, i don’t even know. His revelations are sick and it is crazy how much He can do if we truely surrender our lives to Him
Confidence
So God has been pretty cool lately. And it is crazy how God reveal stuff to you in his perfect timing. What He has been revealing to me is to walk in confidence. To no matter what goes on, is to just have confidence because confidence will give you a whole other perspective. It’s crazy, when you have confidence you don’t need to look to anything else but God because you know that He is a gangster and will always have your back. When you have confidence, you have the ability to hold your head up high even when other things are trying to bring you down. When you have confidence a joy will spring forth where people will know there is something different about you. That is the confidence of God, and let me tell you it is such a great indescribable confidence. It is just so crazy and brings so much joy once you finally realized you have reached it and unlocked the blessings that it beholds. For me, God has just been revealing different things to me ever since my Grandmother’s death and Mississippi and finally I decided that I was going to have my battle with the angel and not give up until I touched and received those blessings. And let me tell you, it was pretty insane, I really had to fight and reached for what God had already claimed for me. But once I reached it, WOW, GOD JUST BLEW MY MIND AWAY. Just tapping into the small part of what God had is just so incredible I cannot even describe it. I mean seriously, never loose the will and drive to reach and fight for it. Because God wants to bless you, but He also wants to see that you really want it and are willing to fight for it until you receive that blessing. God is just so magnificent and He will give you a new confidence that cannot be put down…and its crazy how it comes right when you need it most. : )
Excuse me, Are you Jesus?
Would someone say this about you???
Excuse me, are you Jesus?’
A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago . They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.
ALL BUT ONE !!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.
He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.
He was glad he did.
The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time, helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.
When he had finished, he pull ed out his wallet and said to the girl, ‘Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?’ She nodded through her tears… He continued on with , ‘I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.’
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, ‘Mister…’ He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, ‘Are you Jesus?’
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: ‘Are you Jesus?’ Do people mistake you for Jesus? That’s our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.
If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It’s actually living th e Word as life unfolds day to day.
You are the apple of His eye, even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doi ng and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.
Beautiful Christian Sister
A little something that my aunt shared with me that I felt held many truths.
BEAUTIFUL CHRISTIAN SISTER
by Maya Angelou
A woman’s heart should be so hidden in Christ
that a man should have to seek Him first to find her.
When I say… ‘I am a Christian’ I’m not shouting ‘I’m clean living”
I’m whispering ‘I was lost, Now I’m found and forgiven.’
When I say… ‘I am a Christian’ I don’t speak of this with pride.
I’m confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.
When I say… ‘I am a Christian’ I’m not trying to be strong.
I’m professing that I’m weak and need His strength to carry on.
When I say.. ‘I am a Christian’ I’m not bragging of success.
I’m admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.
When I say… ‘I am a Christian’ I’m not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.
When I say… ‘I am a Christian’ I still feel the sting of pain..
I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.
When I say… ‘I am a Christian’ I’m not holier than thou,
I’m just a simple sinner Who received God’s good grace, somehow!’
Jogger
Something for english.
Sweat dripping down their blood-red face, looking as if they are about to pass out. Swiftly moving through the air to prevent from being held back. “Tip tap, tip tap,” the shoes whisper as they gently beat against the surface of the earth. An aroma steaming from their body, letting you know they are about to complete one of their grandest accomplishments. A face that makes you shiver, yet draws you back because of the confidence and perseverance deep within their eyes. Wishing you were standing by their side, but you can only manage to be left in the dust. One of the world’s greatest inspirations, a jogger, achieving what most only think about.
Hmmm…a small peek into my mind
So I haven’t written a blog in awhile. I don’t know, life has just been so crazy sometimes I feel like I am waiting time if I’m not doing school work or running around somewhere. It’s really kind of strange actually, it’s like I can’t procrastinate and relax because than I feel bad doing it. But anyway, that was just a side note of what was going on in my head.
Hmmm…so life, has been well…challenging, inspiring, hopeful, and splendid all in one. If you don’t know already I am now a senior graduating with the class of ‘08 which i am super stoked from and for my plans after college. Ha, that’s a big question, but one that needs to be answered. Well, I am pretty sure I am staying in-state for at least the first year and either going to ASU or southwestern. What I plan to major in is cross-cultural business management, international business or intercultural studies with a focus on missions. My heart really goes out to missions and I feel that that is what I want to do when I am older or at least semi-do. For me, missions is the area that I really have compassion and passion for and I just love seeing and experiencing different cultures. Being able to go out and show God’s love, not necessarily through your words, but through your actions and representation of Him. Which I just think is pretty awesome. It just amazes me how many people are out there who want to learn about God and who He is, but they don’t have the resources to do so. Well, I want to help them get those resources and be an apostle of God. At Bible study last tuesday Sean said this really cool thing about the word for apostle in Hebrew. It really touched me and made me think about it, like wow, am I really being that for Christ. Am I really putting my pull effort to be an apostle for Christ and do what He has called me to do? My life is only a vapor and I want to be able to live out that vapor with a catch a fire. A fire that will not go out no matter how many times it gets blown down. Because being human I know many things are going to come at me but my desire is to be able to use those things to help me grow more intimate with God and to give me new revelations of His love for me and for all of us. Seriously, I am just excited to see what God has in store and I just pray and hope that I am willing to obey and trust Him in ALL things. Because after all, He is my creator and did plan my very footsteps.
IB Glossary–I thought it was funny
If your in IB, you’ll know what i’m talking about. I was cracking up as I was reading it
Originally from wicked-ib.winter-flower.net with additions.
Aaarg!:
A very common cry among IB students. Typically indicates anger, despair, sleep deprivation, depression.
Acute:
1. Mathematical term, Acute Angle: an angle less than 90 degrees
2. Used to describe unpleasant conditions that the IB student is suffering from, such as acute stress (extreme stress)
All-nighter:
A common expression used by procrastinating IB students. It’s a means (by staying awake all night) of finishing assignments that are usually due the next day.
Anton LaVey:
Founder of the Church of Satan and silent partner in the International Baccalaureate Organization. Although he died in 1997, the IBO secretly still follows his writings and teachings.
Bed time:
A common terminology used by parents of IB students which is not comprehensible in the mind of the IB student themselves.
Biology lab:
A room from which comes a weird smell - something like boiling liver, rotten food, dead bodies, and stuff you don’t really want to know about.
Blood:
That red fluid that can be found in students’ caffeine system
Book burning:
One of the first rituals carried out by recent IB graduate, where a huge bon fire is fed the mountains of papers and notes that have accummulated in the graduate’s room over the two years of IB. The amount of smoke produced from these burning at the end of each exam session is enough to make people nearby think they’re being caught in a forest fire. But then again, the amount of paper being burnt probably came from enough trees to make a small forest.
CAA:
Also credited as CAFAA: Caffeine-Addicts Anonymous. A non-profit organization aimed to help IB graduates who are addicted to caffeine.
Caffeine:
1. Addictive, legal drug of choice for IB students. Found in coffee, tea, chocolate, coke, Red-Bull and caffeine pills.
2. Sleep substitute.
3. Means of survival.
Warning: Can cause nervous breakdown, but don’t worry, being an IB student alone will do that anyway.
Captain Angry and the Bad Mood:
Band who sings the infamous song: “I hate TOK”
CAS:
1. Creativity, Action, Service. 150 hours of CAS are required from IB students.
2. Creativity: Being creative: Trying to imagine the best way to collect 150 hours without actually doing anything. Also finding a way to convince your CAS coordinator that drinking vodka on a Friday night is actually good for the community and you deserve at least 20 hours.
3. Action: Completing the CAS portfolio is an action. So does sleeping. {Yes, your body fully functions when you are asleep. You can provide evidence for that. - That will be 15 hours.} Additionally, walking up 5 minutes before the bell rings and yet manage to be in class only ten minutes late is an intense action that should count for CAS.
4. Service: Throwing your trash on the ground is a service to the community, since more trash cleaners are needed and thus you help people find a job. At least 100 hours should be rewarded for that.
CAS portfolio:
A dossier of sheets given to the student by the CAS coordinator listing activities the student never did, but think it would be nice if he/she had; signed by the student and his/her best-friend(s).
Chemistry Lab:
A place where experiments that require the mixing of unlabelled, rarely harmless, chemicals are held. If you see smoke, RUN. Class: “I came, I saw, I got bored, I left and went for coffee” or “I came, I heard, I fell asleep” etc
Deadline:
Time to start working on that assignment…
Devil:
1. Where people who achieve 45 points have sold their souls to
2. The deity the people involved in the IBO worship
Extra Candidate:
1. An individual who selects 7 instead of 6 subjects, but later he/she realizes what they have done and drop the extra subject (extra subject: the one that requires the most work to be done)
2. A masochist
FIBs:
Friends of IB - students who, while not undertaking the diploma program, sympathise with or display characteristics of IB students.
Geneva:
1. A place in Switzerland where the IBO plots for the suffering of millions of students
Graphic calculator:
1. A machine that a math teacher uses to calculate 12+2=?
2. A tool used for writing text messages to the person sitting next you, while pretending you are explaining to your friend how to make the graph.
3. A way to cheat on tests and exams. Especially multiple choice tests.
4. Just another way not to pay attention to what a math teacher says.
Group-4-Project:
A nice, big, colourful poster with images and text - that the students copied and pasted from the web - written in a very small font - so no one can read anything - with the title of the project and the names of the students, who “worked” on it, written with a large font on the top of the paper. Only a photograph of the individuals holding the project is sent, so the smaller the font used for the content, the less work for the students, since no one will ever be able to read anything. And no one will bother. Just wear clean clothes and smile. Looking innocent is encouraged. But don’t overdo it.
Group study:
Three or more students sitting together watching TV while one of them does all the work and then distributes it to the rest, who whine for being interrupted during the good part of the movie. See also Team work.
Homework:
1. Work a student does at home
2. Useless work that absorbs all creativity and aims in ensuring that the student has no free time
3. Exercises given to a student by a math teacher to be solved later by a private teacher, since the mathematician has no idea how to solve them or is too bored to solve them
4. An excuse to get a computer and spend hours in front of the screen (probably playing Tetris, Warcraft or Worms 3D) and pretending you are writing that history essay (which was probably due yesterday)
IBlicious: Adjective used to positively denote qualities of an IB candidate. Example:
Paul and Rufus are at a bar. They see a girl across the room.
Paul: Dude! Check out that chick!
Rufus: Right on! My TOK sense is telling me that she’s totally IBlicious!
Paul: Dude! Let’s challenge her to a game of chess!
etc.
IBO:
International Baccalaureate Organization aka the International Baccalaureate Mafia
IBSHC:
IB Student Help and Counseling - An organization that helps IB graduates to become again a part of the real world and get over the fact that they wasted two years of their lives for no particular reason.
Imaginary numbers:
Invention of mathematicians (√i = -1) Such think doesn’t exist. When mathematicians cannot find a solution to a problem they just make up one. However, a made up solution given by a student is by no means accepted.
Institution:
The IB student’s destination. Can either be an Institution of Higher Education (college or university) or a mental institution.
Lab Coat:
A white robe to wear before a chemistry or biology lab. You wouldn’t want thick smelly green stuff on your clothes, would you?
Lab equipment:
Two cheap microscopes, an expensive broken one, a box with rulers and pencils {donated by the “Lost-Found-But never asked for” section of the school}, unlabelled tubes containing green, blue and orange bubbling liquids, dirty kitchen knives, a slide-projector, a blackboard and a locked closet where the bodi… tools are kept.
Lab report:
A description of what you did in the lab. Usually, the experiment is a complete failure or you were too bored to do it, so you start the lab report by writing the results you would like to have and then you imagine what you could have done to get those results.
Miracle:
What a student relies on before a test/examination.
Moderation:
An evil mechanism to ensure that the IB student will never get a high mark (even if they bribe or sleep with the teacher).
Participant:
Politically correct for Experimental Subject, Guinea-Pig, Commonly used in IB Psychology: An individual who takes part in an experiment. Someone who is intentionally being deceived by the experimenters and has all kinds of weird and usually dangerous tests done on him/her
Peace and Love:
What all our teachers came back from training saying the IBO was full of
Predicted grades:
Grades you are never going to get
Procrastination:
See ‘I.B. Dodgy. (2000), Survival Techniques of the Modern International Baccalaureate Diploma Candidate, Stress Less Press, Timbuktu.’
Sleep:
Sleep ≠ IB. There is no sleep. Only coffee and caffeine pills.
Social life:
Huh?
Ranking:
A way to develop among students mistrust, jealously, suspicion, extreme antagonism and aggression. Individual feelings may include depression, hopelessness and frustration. Other than that, it serves no actual purpose.
Rational:
1. R. number: A number that can be expressed as the ratio of two integers.
2. R. student: A non-IB student
Teacher:
1. Satan’s agent or minion
2. A sadist
3. An individual who makes no money
4. An individual who doesn’t explain anything in class, but is willing to explain everything after school for a large amount of money.
5. Someone who couldn’t make it as college professor
6. {rarely used} An individual who helps the student
Teachers Conventions:
1. Teachers of the same subject gather from all around the world to talk about that subject
2. An excuse for a teacher to go on a holiday on Switzerland and eat chocolates and have a nice time while you are at school studying (or pretending to at least).
3. A meeting of teachers where no one agrees with anyone else and everyone is fighting and cursing. No one has been killed yet. There is still hope.
Team Work:
If everything goes ok it allows you to do nothing and yet have all the worked ready and done. If things go wrong, it allows you to blame someone else.
Theory of Knowledge:
An IB instituted device used as a means of belittling students who thought they could outsmart the IB. Oh, how wrong we were.
TOKish:
1. From Theory of Knowledge (TOK), a well known component of the International Baccalaureate.
2. Having characteristics of TOK
3. Sounding philosophical or profound or containing depth
4. Questions the nature of knowledge, the ways of knowing information and raises the problems within that knowledge
5. BS that sounds intellectual
Virus:
The reason a student did no homework. Either he/she was sick or the computer crashed and the whole hard-disk was erased (and of course the backup was stolen by two aliens on a flying sheep).
From here.
Agenda: record of homework, study group and club meetings, tests, exams, and the rare social event; completely full on each day’s allotted space
Alarm clock: annoying buzzing or singing machine that goes off at an unholy hour of the morning so that a student can make it to an activity such as school, extension courses, study groups, club meetings, or just to finish the homework that was impossible to complete at midnight the previous night
Biology: the memorization of facts about the human body that come to mind at the most inconvenient times (like the process of digestion while eating chocolate), and which are instantly forgotten after the exam
Calculus: mathematical system with no practical purpose
CAS portfolio: collection of items detailing the vague and inaccurate hours used for CAS, as well as sheets signed by an individual stating that the activity was actually true
Chemistry: the study of unproven theories which are necessary to learn but which will become obsolete within the next fifteen years, requiring that the student retake an entire chemistry course to learn all the new unproven theories which continues in the same cycle
Class: period of time which is entirely too long used for schoolwork, note-taking, and brief periods of sleep classroom: detention cell; torture chamber
Computer: machine used as much as possible to write essays, do lab reports, and finish homework because the amount of typing needed in IB winds up giving students an extremely fast typing speed that approaches the speed at which they speak, as well as carpal tunnel syndrome cramming: studying in an extremely short period of time (from the morning of the test to the moment when the teacher forces the notes from your hands); more common than studying
Curriculum: detailed description of the useless and unpragmatic information that an adult with no knowledge of the real world arbitrarily decided was relevant and necessary to learn data booklet: packet used in chemistry containing formulas, periodic tables, and constants which would otherwise take up valuable space in the brain which will be devoted to remembering where the data booklet was last seen
Document analysis: form of essay written in social studies that is practically impossible to do properly because of the assumption by teachers that allstudents know what to do
Due date: date on which an assignment must be handed in, often altered by the pleading of a harried student or group of students for an extension; date during the early hours of which the assignment is typically completed
Empty set: an extremely frustrating answer to a math problem which has no actual answer but still requires two pages of work and twenty minutes to complete
Encyclopedia: primary source of information for essays
English: class involving an in-depth discussion dominated by those who have read the Coles Notes or actually understand the complex and psychologically disturbing work being studied (rare, but occasionally seen), as well as essays and commentaries
Essay: written ramble ranging in length from 500 to 4000 words (in the case of the Extended essay), and generally needing to have useless adjectives, adverbs, and in many cases entire sentences added so that it gets up to the minimum length
Exam: extremely large test requiring the complete renunciation of any activity which does not include studying or a discussion of the subject of the exam exercise: movement from class to class
Extended Essay: essay written only by those dropped only by those dropped on their heads as babies enough times to become full IB students, supposedly researched thoroughly over the final year of high school, but truly completed the night before using the CD-ROM encyclopedia
Extension: a reprieve on a due date allowing a few precious hours to complete an assignment which is barely started anyway but is due the next day
External assessment: assignment sent to Europe for evaluation because apparently the student’s actual teachers are biased liars who aren’t giving the IBO the correct marks
Fees: large amounts of money (reaching $580 in the case of a full IB student)given by a student’s perfectionist parents to the IBO so that the student may be permitted to actually complete the IB exams, the Extended Essay, and the various externally-assessed projects.
FLA: class identical to English but in French, as well as including grammar and conjugation of various irregular verbs which are never used in everyday life
Franglais (French?): the official language of French Immersion students which is a mixture of French and English terms but is always completely understandable to other Immersion students
Goggle eyes: imprints on the face resulting from the wearing of lab goggles for an experiment, which are eliminated only after school
Graphic calculator: calculator designed so that there is no need to learn to make graphs by hand and so that it is possible to play Tetris instead of paying attention in class
Homework: the natural state of existence of IB students while not in class
IB (International Baccalaureate): a program for the especially intelligent student who is still stupid enough to do extra work, take more classes, and write extremely difficult exams instead of slacking off in regular classes and finishing high school with a 99% average; method of separating the insane from the rest of the student body
IB exam: horridly complicated exam taking place over two days and at least four hours, involving any and every single thing taught over the course of the last three years and resulting in complete and utter despair upon the realization that there is no possible way that no human could remember all this material under pressure
IB student: intelligent yet insane teenager with nothing better to do than excess homework; often mentally deranged and permanently seconds away from a nervous breakdown
IB oral: IB exam requiring quick thought, a high caffeine-blood ratio, and divine intervention for a passing grade
IBO (International Baccalaureate Organization): organization of pure evil determining the future of all IB students through evaluation of the abilities (synthesis, studying, application, higher thought, insight, memorization, and development, among others) supposedly taught them during high school rather than the ones actually learned (procrastination, cramming, and caffeine-dependency)ideal gases: substances that don’t exist but are forcibly taught to students for the fun of it
Imaginary numbers: numbers which are the square roots of negative numbers and serve no purpose other than to permit the solving of a greater amount of complicated equations, each of which takes a minimum of a page and fifteen minutes to solve
Lab: hands-on experience in a science class, which involves a large amount of recording precise information, guessing, and hoping that the notes written are correct, and which ends with a lab report
Lab report: write-up which is longer than an essay, including calculations and many other complicated time-intensive activities, that has no true purpose other than being able to give homework after the potentially-interesting activity of a lab
Logic: a quality absent from IB students which results in behaviour (such as sleep) that would make them unsuitable for the program lunch hour: hour-long break at approximately noon used to attend various club meetings, cram for tests, and finish undone homework math: a collection of random formulas and variables positioned to confuse the casual observer and the semi-dedicated student alike, with each calculation taking approximately forever and an entire tree worth of paper to complete
Memoire (French): essay written for social studies which is supposedly worked on throughout the semester but is instead completed the night before the due date at midnight
Normal: antonym for IB
Notes: written copy of information discussed/taught in class, usually illegibly scrawled and written on crumpled paper
Oral commentary: essay made up on the spot, and spoken
Outdoors: that place outside the windows of the classroom where it’s often too windy, rainy, snowy, or distractingly sunny to do work of any kind
Party: gathering of individuals for a social reason, not to study together; antonym for class
Periodic table: list of the elements and their quantitative properties that is often partially memorized through extreme usage by IB students
Physics: calculations and graphs which, at first glance, appear to discuss the study of motion, but, in truth, are totally made-up to look like the student knows what they are talking about
Principal: individual leading the entire school who is seen only rarely (once a year is typical)
Procrastination: leaving any form of work for a future date, typically so that other procrastinated but more urgent work can be completed either before the teacher threatens death unless the assignment is handed in or before the test is written
Recreation: activity not involving schoolwork or homework; rare phenomenon among IB students
Rest: milder form of sleep; experienced only during the breaks between classes and the rides to and from school during which it is almost impossible to do work
Schedule: description of the order of torture undergone during a school day
School day: eight-hour period of the day during which schoolwork is done, as the other sixteen hours are used for homework and occasionally sleep
School work: the natural state of existence of IB students while in class semester break: time after semester one exams but before semester two classes which is used for completion of grade twelve Social Studies memoire
Sleep: a state of unconsciousness typically required for full functioning of the human body, with the exception of any student in at least one IB class at any point in time; rare substitute for caffeine
Social life: form of recreation involving other people and not involving any discussions of schoolwork; not usually seen in IB students
Social studies: the study of history and interactions between people; generally not including any of the latter
Spare period: uncommon period during the school day without a class, used in theory to do homework, but in practice to either rest, return the bloodstream to the reference level of caffeine, or write useless tests made up by other IB students for the purpose of proving that competition is stupid
Standardization: system of mark equalization sent as a divine gift to raise the low marks caused by the lack of comprehension of the twisted IB curriculum
Stoichiometry: a portion of chemistry which is identical to math and requires no actual intelligence other than the ability to type numbers into a calculator and then copy whatever comes out onto the page, hoping that the units guessed are the correct ones
Studying: revision of old notes in preparation for a test (see definition) well in advance; not typically seen
Sunrise: the beginning of the first class in the winter, or the moment the alarm clock rings in the morning at all other times
Sunset: the end of the last class in the winter
Supervisor: teacher whose entire purpose when it comes to a full IB student is to scream and threaten them so that they complete the Extended Essay at some point before the due date
Teacher’s Convention: teachers’ excuse for taking a five-day weekend in February, used by full IB students to complete the Extended Essay
Television: a glowing box emitting two different types of shows, recreational ones and educational ones; recreational ones are the ones requiring free time, and educational shows are the only ones seen by IB students, during class time and only every so often
Test (or quiz): form of evaluation undergone at least once every 24 hours by any IB student
Textbook: torture device weighing at the very least ten kilograms, with one or more per class, which is extremely boring with long, incomprehensible words
Theory of Knowledge: the only class the typical IB students always enjoys, which involves intense arguments about irrelevant subjects
Thesis statement: very long, detailed sentence explaining in big words what your essay was supposed to be about, but often having absolutely nothing to do with the actual essay
World Literature assignment: essay involving the detailed analysis in English of a piece of literature originally written in another language, which the original author could likely never understand
Econ Commentary Cover Sheet
Commentary Cover Sheet
Economics Commentary Number: SL Number 2
Title of Extract: “Beating a down market”
Source of Extract: Tribune
Date of Extract: September 12, 2007
Word Count: 682
Date the commentary was written: December 5, 2007
Section of Syllabus to which the commentary relates: Section 2
Candidate Name: Sophia Davis
Candidate Number:
Econ Commentary
Competition of the Real Estate Market
The real estate market is a competitive market, a market in which all market participants are price-takers. The price-takers are the producers or consumers in whose actions have no effect on the market price of the bought good. There can either be a shortage of houses or a surplus. Meaning that there will either be an insufficiency of houses when the quantity supplied is less than the quantity demanded, or there is will a be an excess amount houses because the quantity supplied is greater than the quantity demanded. In the real estate market of today, one can see that the sellers need to be accommodating to the buyers due to the surplus of houses.
In the supply and demand model of real estate which shows how a competitive market works, one can see where the equilibrium of houses should be. The equilibrium is an economic balance in which no individual would be better off doing something different. Market equilibrium occurs at the point E in Figure*A, where the supply curve and the demand curve intersect. In equilibrium, the quantity demanded is equal to the quantity supplied. Or, the actual amount of a good or service consumers are willing to buy at a specific price is equal to the actual amount of a good or service sellers are willing to sell at some specific price. In this market for houses, the equilibrium price is $498,000 and the equilibrium quantity is 7 houses.
Due to competition, a determinant of supply, there is a shift to the right on the supply curve of the supply and demand model. This shift creates a new equilibrium, causing the equilibrium price (price at the market is in equilibrium) to decrease and increases the equilibrium quantity (the quantity of a good bought and sold at the equilibrium price). Competition decreases the equilibrium price due to the greater number of producers. This gives the consumers more opinions, causing the equilibrium price to drop. An example of this is, if the equilibrium price of a house is set at $498,000 and the supply curve shifts to the right, this would cause the equilibrium price to decrease and there would be a new equilibrium price of $388,000. This is shown in Figure*B of the supply and demand model of real estate.
In many cases, producers do not wish to set there houses at equilibrium. Producers tend to choose to place a price that is higher than the equilibrium price. This creates a surplus in the market for real estate because the quantity demanded is less than the quantity supplied. If the equilibrium price for a house is $388,000 and the producer sets price above the equilibrium level at $419,000, this will create a surplus. The market price of $419,000 is above the equilibrium price of $388,000. This creates a surplus: at $419,000 per house, realtors would like to sell fifteen houses but buyers are willing to purchase only five houses, so there would be a surplus of ten houses, also known as the excess supply. This surplus will push the price down of the houses until the price eventually reach the equilibrium price of $388,000. This is shown in Figure*C.
Due to the competitive market, many producers offer incentives or a reward offered to consumers who change their behavior. This could include, throwing in the furniture or paying the closing cost in order to aid people in becoming more attracted to their home. Could this offering of incentives could change the price-elasticity of demand for homes? Price elasticity demand is the ration of the percent change in the quantity demanded to the percent change in the price as it moves along the demand curve. If incentives are offered, than the price-elasticity of demand would become less elastic; consumers would start to expect more from certain producers. Meaning that the consumers might be willing to pay a higher price because they know what one producer offers may not be interchangeable compared to another producer. This could intern help the real estate market come out of a surplus and return to the equilibrium.
Red, White and Black–book critique
Sophie Davis
12/7/07
APIB History of the
Americas
Red White and Black Book Critique
When I began reading Red, White, and Black-The Peoples of Early
North America by Gary B. Nash, I was a little frightened. When I was searching for the book at a library it came up as a reference book and the one of the first thoughts that popped into my mind was that this would be a boring old history book, however I was quickly proven wrong. It was not a put you to sleep reference book, but a thought capturing read. It did not just take the historians point of view but it also used references to the anthropologist—which I highly enjoyed because I would like to study anthropology. My overall view of this book was remarkable because it gave me a different perspective of the peoples history of early
North America.
The theme of this book was very effective in reflecting what I already know. The theme was, “This book is not about colonial American history as usually defined—as the English colonization of the thirteen colonies along the continent’s eastern seaboard—but about the history of the peoples of North America during the two centuries that preceded the American Revolution.” Throughout the reading of Red, White and Black I was able to connect subjects that we had read in history class to what Nash was saying in his book. It started during the before
Columbus period and ended at the aftermath of the Seven Year War and the mixing of the people. I was able to connect different perspectives with key subjects like the African American response to slavery. I enjoyed learning the varying view-points.
The Nash is met, and in my opinion, greatly achieved during the reading of Red, White and Black. He starts you off in the introduction explaining why he is writing this book, and how he to convey the history of the people and not just the English of early
North America. Than in the next ten chapters he is presenting the history of the people. Finally, the last chapter is the chapter of the mixing of the people, including in it the last section which is the cultural interaction of red, white, and black. Bringing every aspect you just read together and showing you how each individual society’s history affected everyone’s history as a whole.
The author seems to be fair and accurate with little biases, trying to look at all sides of the issues presented. According to what I have learned in History of the
Americas, Nash’s facts line up to be historically accurate. Although he is not ultra conservative, I do not believe that he is irrationally liberal either. His details are not over exaggerated and he references all of the statements he makes, proving that they are not just made up sayings. He also attempts to see the perspective from every culture, not just the dominant one. An example of this is, “Viewing the enslavement of Africans in America as an encounter between or interaction of two cultures, we can see that slaves not only adapted to the death-dealing toil of the plantation but also educated themselves in strategies of survival, resistance, and rebellion.” This showed that he wanted to bring forth more than one aspect, not just the typical ideas that we hear.
This book was interesting to me because I liked how it did not treat the Indians and Africans as a non-important factor in the forming of
North America. When reading about the history of
North America who almost always hear about the colonies and the English perspectives, but rarely about the African, and especially the Indian perspective. This book presented all three races an interesting way because you received the historians and the anthropologists view. This was extremely interesting to me because it gave me a better perspective on a possible topic of study if I go forth into studying cultural anthropology. Throughout the entire book I really took pleasure in being able to focus on this idea.
In Red, White, and Black, there was enough information so that I could receive a clear picture of events and grasp the facts. Nash was able to fully explain every subject by including various sub-topics within each chapter. This helped me because it gave me a subject line on what I was going to be reading. Items were not random or off topic because you were given a brief introduction to what was about to be explained. An example of this is under Patterns of Indian-European Interaction there was, Dutch-Indian, Quaker-Indian, French-Indian, and Spanish-Indian relations. Visual images also enable me to receive a clear picture of events and grasp the facts. Within each chapter there were maps and pictures to aid your knowledge of what you were reading.
I felt satisfied by the book because I love learning about different cultures and how the interact with each other and that is exactly what Red, White, and Black did. It showed you the mixing of the cultures and the result of that interaction. It would not just tell you that they mixed, but it would say what happened next which was notable. To top it off, it was written with the reference of anthropology which made it even more satisfying.
The book was well written; it was not an easy read, but an intriguing read. I enjoyed that the vocabulary was not too complex, but it also did not insult the reader’s intelligence. If a word or phrase was said, it might briefly explain it to keep you on tract, but that quickly move on. An example of this is “The main points of English Indian policy-prevention of encroachment on the Indian lands and equity in the Indian trade-were reduced to a shambles in the decade before the Revolution.” The book made many references throughout the text that were footnoted at the bottom of the page. This helped support his aim because you were able to gain the knowledge of other writers as well, along with knowing he had facts to back-up his statements.
There is nothing noteworthy about the third edition of Red, White, and Black by Gary B. Nash. It did not change society of win any major awards.
This benefited me as a person because it helped me to see the benefits of looking at all sides/perspectives of an issue. Nash furthered showed me that you cannot just look to one source for information but you need to obtain multiple sources in order to gain a clear viewpoint. This book benefited me as a students because it my desire in wanting to study cultural anthropology. This book provided a greater idea of the subjects I would be studying, which will benefit me in future decisions.